I dropped my dinner when Tarka walked in with Galea. Soup splattered across the floor in her direction. She was caked in dust and small dark red stains (blood?) dotted her tunic and pants. She was exhausted, ready to fall at the slightest breeze. Her arms were wrapped around her tight and her eyes looked out into nothing. Alden wasn't with her. "T-Tarka?" I stammered. Light, though dim, returned to her eyes. "Tristram... Tristram!" She ran to my cell and clung to the bars, her eyes wide. "We have to help him! He took him, he took him!" Her voice raised and Rythmus, who had been eating with Elane in the corner, pulled Tarka in close as she started to sob.
"Tarka," Rythmus started, "where is Alden?" She continued to sob., managing only to choke out one word, "Lesion." Rage filed my body. Not only at Legion for capturing, and likely torturing, Alden, but also at myself for not being there to protect him. Maybe if I had sent Rythmus with them or if I had hurried on my own quest then perhaps I could have... Maybe. I forced myself to focus. Alden needed action, not maybes and whatifs.
Rythmus lead Tarka to a seat next to Elane who started comforting Tarka. Galea then turned to me expectantly, raising his eyebrows. He expected me to make the decision here yet I had no idea what to do. Every nerve in my body screamed to rush out and hunt down Lesion but my brain and heart said stay. My mind knew it was suicide, that I could never rescue Alden by myself. My heart yearned for my people, to remove the traitorous king. It also wanted to stay with Elane. Galea must have sense my hesitation. "The choice is obvious," he said with a hint of anger, "you have to stay. Your people need you. You can't go running after some stranger! You are needed here!"
SHUT UP!!
Tarka stood, hands clenched at her side, eyes wide, and tail standing straight up. She was glaring at Galea. Her shouted at him, " Alden is not some stranger. He is brave, smart, and stronger than you'll ever be!" Galea looked as stunned as I was. I had no idea Tarka had come to care for (maybe even love?) Alden that much.
She turned on me next. " Tristram! Why didn't you run out of here the second I'd told you who took him?!" She clung to the prison bars again, eyes still brimming with tears. "We have to get Alden, Tristram. He is our friend, we owe him that." Her tone softened and she started to fall. Elaine caught her and looked at me with sad eyes. She didn't want me to leave either. But I had killed Alden's brother. Didn't I owe him that?
Rythmus coughed and all eyes riveted on him. "Tristram, I will not tell you what to do. Only you can make this decision. But know your resources, know how to manage them. We can sit here all day and argue, but in the end, only you can decide what we do. Now how about we all finish our dinner and letTristram think."
Elane and I were given privacy to talk and we ultimately came up with the plan. Rythmus, Tarka, and my friend Askimi would go and rescue Alden who was probably in Palkin territory somewhere. Galeo, Elane, and I would stay here. The best way I could help Alden was not by storming a fortress but preparing an army against Lesion so nobody could be hurt by him again.
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